Saturday, August 29, 2009

Deutsches cowgirl

So I was in Berlin for nine days and several unusual things happened. Or rather, didn't happen. I took this one (1) rootin' tootin' street style shot, and I did not buy so much as one shred of clothing. These phenomena are so odd, I feel I must explain.

Lack of street style photos was due to a combination of lack of confidence in my high school German, the fact that I was so often steering my rented fat tire bike, and the fact that I didn't encounter jaw-droppingly stylish folk. The urban cowgirl, above, was a server at a beer garden.

As to the lack o' finds, I'm going to admit right off, I did not devote myself to the cause. Three hours, tops. Of course, I located KaDeWe but only toured the 6th floor food world. Also took a swing down nearby Mommsenstrasse and the delightful consignment shops on several leafy blocks but they were a tad rich for my Savers-thinned blood (180 euro frock = too many USD). With high hopes, I visited three Humana shops but they were no Salavation, and I left with scant Goodwill. I tried one other nameless thrift shop in a promising immigrant neighborhood and while they did have the only pair of lederhosen I saw on the whole trip, nein. Nichts. Here's a good one-- I lured Dennis up to the suitably gritty-thus-trendy Prenzlauerberg area in former Ost Berlin (pretext: Zionskirche, Dietrich Bonhofer's former church). In a stunning parallel to New York's Lower East Side, the groovy "vintage " shops had scooped up their stock in one trip to a US Salvation Army and marked the stuff up to the point of ridiculous. I went in one establishment, beguilingly named Thrift Store, and found a several seasons old Mossimo sundress marked 30 euros (at least $45). It did not have the European flavor I was looking for, so I bid Thrift Store tschuss!